“And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah” (Romans 9:29).
So much can be missed when reading the Bible if we are not cognizent of God’s names. As in the verse above, God’s name is used to point to His army of angels. It is natural to think that because God is omnipotent He does not need anything, and that is true, but He has chosen to work often times through means.
God uses the Church to preach and teach the gospel, prayer to move Him to action, His Word to enlighten the darkened soul, men and angels to further His plan of redemption, etc.
In the text before us, a quote from Isaiah 1:9 points to the fact that God’s army was used as a means to protect the remnant of His people, otherwise they would have been uterly destroyed. In our verse the term “had not left” is used, but can also refer to “preeminence, preserve, prosper you abundantly, reserved, or spare.
God is preeminent. He has preserved, prospered, reserved and spared Israel. Angels were the means. I think that when most people hear about angels they think about the TV show “Touched by an Angel” or some such thing. In reality, according to God’s Word, the term as used in Isaiah means, “armies, with an inference to battle, combat, conflict, forced to labor, hardship, service, struggle, trained, war or warfare.
There are no babies with wings in heaven so far as the scriptures are concerned. Most times when an angel appeared to someone they invoked fear.
The things of which I am speaking is like talking about marriage; for the one who has never been married there is an experience gap. Married people do not know everything about being married succussfully, but they have some experience upon which to relate. I have had numerous encounters in my life, by which God opened my eyes to see that I was not alone in my struggle. Furthermore, the struggle itself was not just about me or earthly people.
In one case I gave myself to pray extensively, which I now regard as a grace given by God. Apart from God’s intervention, which happened as a result of prayer, things could have turned out very different. Instead, God put all the pieces of my life back together. Much like a quote by John Piper that I used two posts ago, I learned much about praying against spiritual forces in heavenly places, and the reality of their presence.
What we know about the lives we live is so much less than what realy takes place. It’s what I once heard a man say about what his wife told him. “You are always so surce about what you believe, and sometimes you are right.” We are so sure about the things that take place, not realizing that there is a whole world of beings that we can’t even see, who are also involved with our lives.
The writer to the Hebrews had this to say about angels, ” And of the angels He says, “who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire” (Hebrews 1:7). And to whom do these angels minister? He tells us in 14, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”
Personally, I thank God for those angels that have watched over me.
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